A Dublin dad has shared his heartbreaking story about how his 16-year-old son threatened to kill him.

A caller named, Jimmy, told RTE's Liveline that his 16-year-old son has become very aggressive and their family don't know where to turn.

"My son threatened to kill me. He said 'I'm going to kill you'. He came at me with a knife as well about 18 months ago. In fairness, we've tried our best. He has attended some people that he is willing to engage with. He is a danger to himself, to me and to the rest of the family.

"Yesterday, he wrecked the kitchen with a kettle bell and threw the bins all over the place. In the process of this he said to his mother 'you're lucky I don't wreck your car'."

Jimmy said that his son has severe behavioural issues, but they are waiting to get confirmation from the health authorities.

"It's like he has a split-personality disorder but we know his has anger management issues. We just can't seem to get anywhere. The only place he can go to is the street because there aren't social services there to help him. There's no foster care or anything.

"Our only option is to call the guards and get him admitted to the hospital and then he'll be there for a few days and then we'll be convinced to bring the child home again because there is no danger to him at home. There's certainly a danger to us at home, we have two other kids. There is a danger to himself now because if he does try to kill me, I'm not going to allow that, I'm going to defend myself."

Jimmy said that the issue stems from his son not wanting to go to school.

"He wants to drop out but we won't let him. He says he's going to get himself expelled. He's off school at the moment.

"From when he was nine he has had anger management problems and he's been isolated from his friends. He's very adversarial. It's either black or white with him. In primary school he fell out with people."

The dad-of-three said that the gardai have been involved numerous times.

"There's little they can do. He's too young to be jailed. The other option is to drop him to A&E for a few days and then let social services deal with him.

"If he's being this erratic he should be somewhere. There is nothing out there where he can be housed properly until he gets the correct diagnosis as to what his mental behavioural problem is."

Jimmy said that his son doesn't drink alcohol but has done drugs.

"It's been going on since he was nine. He was very oppositional to everyone. He's already fallen out with two schoolteachers and he said he's not going to one class because he's leaving when he's 16.

"This isn't a drug problem, it's a behavioural problem. He's oppositional to people in authority. In sixth class, he was taken out and put into another class because he couldn't see eye-to-eye with the teacher."

Jimmy added that his other two children are suffering.

"His younger brother was coerced into letting him in through his bedroom when he arrived home after 12 o'clock. He doesn't like it. He said he loves his brother and wants him here.

"The night before last, he slept in his grandmother's shed, unbeknown to ourselves."

He added that they're at their "rope's end".

"We don't know where to turn to.

"He's supposed to be coming home today to meet people who are trying to help him but we don't know if he's going to show up or not. If he doesn't, he might come back at 12 tonight."